Carotenoids have been shown to be important both nutritionally and medicinally. Carotenoid accumulation was compared during growth and storage of two near isolines of carrots, YYy1y1y2y2RPRP and rprp. These genotypes exhibit orange and pale-range roots respectively. The RP gene reduces total carotenoid content by 93%. It was suspected that RP gene only affects the synthesis of ?- and ?-carotenes. Total carotenoid content were quantified using HPLC and spectrophotometric analyses. HPLC analysis at lambda=296nm revealed two large unique peaks in rprp with elution times of 27.5 to 28.5 minutes that were of lesser abundance in YYy1y1y2y2yRPPR, suggesting that the rate of ?-and ?-carotene accumulation is not the only difference between the two near isolines. Compounds that elute around 27.5 to 28.5 minutes will be identified using mass spectrometry and NMR.